HBO Max Conjures Up All ‘Harry Potter’ Films To Stream On Launch Day
By Hoai-Tran Bui/May 27, 2020 8:30 am EST
The Harry Potter films used to be a staple of ABC Family, and then Freeform, reruns, with the Disney-owned cable network playing the magical films in “Harry Potter Weekends” for months straight. But since Freeform lost the rights to air the franchise in 2018, we’ve been bereft of our favorite boy wizard, and typical streaming deal complications kept Harry Potter off the air and off many streaming platforms. The streaming rights to the Harry Potter series have been in question since Universal struck a deal in 2016 to secure the exclusive on-air and digital rights to all Wizarding World films.
WarnerMedia has all the Warner Bros. archive at its disposal, yes, and the coveted (and costly) streaming rights to Friends, but Harry Potter is probably the only franchise that can stand up to Marvel and Star Wars combined. Because of that, HBO Max content chief Kevin Reilly told Business Insider that getting the Harry Potter films for HBO Max was a “high on our priority list.” And it seems they were able to pull it off at the last minute.
